Umami's big adventure

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Lairian

So Umami came to us with a watery eye (clear discharge) and a little bit of sneezing. We took her to the vet Monday this week and, as suspected, vet said it was most likely herpes virus brought on by the stress of settling into a new home, and that her eye didn't look too bad.
We bought an l-lysine supplement and it arrived yesterday so we were hoping that would help clear it all up.
Seems not however! Got home from work today to find a very sickly wee girl - green discharge from her eye and much more swollen than this morning. And she had developed a cough, which she only does very infrequently, but when it happens she struggles to catch her breath.
And to add to all that, she has diarrhea! (Breeder never let us know what food she was on so we've had to start her on, presumably, a totally new food. Breeder still hasnt returned my emails...)

So I called a taxi straight away and it was off to the 24h vet hospital (as it's a public holiday here...of course). Took forever to get there as in my panic I managed to forget my handbag in the house and we had to go back

Anyway...7 hours later and we're home with some eyedrops Supposed to keep an eye on the diarrhea and cough but lungs sounded clear enough for now that we can at least wait until next week. Phew. She gave me quite the scare!

Back to her usual self now. Attacking my toes and trying to eat my dinner from straight off my plate. Now off to bed for maybe 3 or 4 hours before I'm back to work tomorrow - lots of animals at the zoo for me to take care of also ❤

Moderator

Glad you acted on it fast. When they are this young you need to address quickly especially when a greenish/yellowish discharge which means infection. Hoping she continues to feel better. Keep updating us in this thread.

Lairian

Glad you acted on it fast. When they are this young you need to address quickly especially when a greenish/yellowish discharge which means infection. Hoping she continues to feel better. Keep updating us in this thread.

Thank you! I will definitely update here, how she is doing.
She was mega playful most of last night, almost to the point of being crazy. I think we had an overtired kitten! But she's scoffed down her breakfast this morning.
My husband has taken the day off work, so I don't need to stress while at work about her!

Thank you! She's seems to be doing ok this morning. I'm blown away how resilient she is - she adapts so well to new situations. She (accidentally) met her first dog last night at the vet, and I swear you would have thought she had grown up with dogs! So at ease!

Oh, and by the zoo, I literally meant the zoo! I'm a zoo keeper I've worked 14 years with animals, and 10 of that in a zoo - mainly Auckland Zoo back home in New Zealand, but for the last couple months I've been at Helsinki Zoo in Finland. Wish I could just take Umami to the zoo with me and let the vet there see her, but unfortunately that perk doesn't come with the job

In all that time I don't think I've ever panicked as much as I did when I came home last night and saw how she was!

Umami sends head smooches back your way ❤ Thank you for the message and support!

Haha yes, I think that's our job as sphynx parents now - to worry! I'v never fussed over any of my other animals to this level. She's just so small and fragile (apart from when she pounces at us out of hidden areas

I love my job, and feel so privileged that I have the opportunity to care for so many wonderful animals, and have the chance the make their lives the best life possible. But I do wonder sometimes if my body can handle all the stress and worrying - so many animals, so much (most of the time, needless) worrying!

Senior Lairian

Yeah they look small and fragile but they are a lot stronger than we think! Oh the diva antics r hilarious, my kitty Binky does everything on her terms, she actually makes a sigh sound like a teenager n blows her cheeks out when it’s bath time!

Oh yeah your job is amazing, bless ur heart worrying about the animals, you must have a gift, the dr dolittle of the spynex lair!

Gold Lairian

Goodness! What a night indeed. So glad that you got Umami Tended to so quickly. And I totally know what you mean about how quickly we become attached to our little naked companions. They will always be fragile to us. No matter how old they get.

Umami seems very feisty, which is great. You have a champion on your hands!

I'm very curious about your vocation. Do you specialize in any specific animals at the zoo? Or do you care for all of them in turn? What an amazing job you have.

Thank you! ❤ Those eye drops have kicked in so fast! And I increased her lysine dose to 500mg just for now. Havent heard cough at all since, thank goodness, but she's still sneezing a bit. But we're on the mend!!

Still no word from her breeder whatsover - I emailed straight away to tell her the situation, and to ask, once again, what food she had her on. I have to say I'm not very impressed with that. Otherwise the breeder had been very good.

Lairian

Goodness! What a night indeed. So glad that you got Umami Tended to so quickly. And I totally know what you mean about how quickly we become attached to our little naked companions. They will always be fragile to us. No matter how old they get.

Umami seems very feisty, which is great. You have a champion on your hands!

I'm very curious about your vocation. Do you specialize in any specific animals at the zoo? Or do you care for all of them in turn? What an amazing job you have.

Feisty is the perfect word for her!! Actually, I've been letting her get away with murder because she's been unwell, but I'll have to sort that out soon

You can choose to specialise as a zoo keeper as each zoo generally has set teams (primates, reptiles, carnivores etc), but I always felt I wanted to keep my skill set broad. So I've always changed teams where possible. Most of my experience would probably be with birds and primates, but over the years I've done a bit of everything - elephants, sea lions, tigers, lions, giraffe
Currently Im looking after a mix of birds and hoof stock (Przewalski's horses and Vicuna), so I'm learning a lot as hoof stock is something I don't know well.

Who knows how long I'll be able to continue on as a zoo keeper though. At least in Finland. My contract is only 6 months, and they told me they won't ever give me a permanent job unless I become fluent in Finnish (something that can take 6 or 7 years). And on top of that, they hire Finnish people first, EU citizens second and then everyone else last - so when I applied for one of the 14 seasonal jobs here, I initially didn't get one - they hired some very young Finnish girls with zero work experience with animals, and I got my job only because they got desperate at the last minute. 10 years seemed to count for nothing :-(
Anyway, I'm ranting now I love my job, but it's a tough job to get. Luckily the hubby is open to moving back to New Zealand or maybe Australia, and life will be a lot easier for me there (and warmer for Umami!)

Senior Lairian

Oh that’s amazing, all the beautiful animals u have worked with, I love elephants so to care for one would be such a dream, I find them magical n very peaceful animals! Well until u annoy one then I’d need to run for the hills!

Lairian

Umami had her first outdoor adventure today! She was a little unsure but was very brave and spent about 15 minutes exploring before she got a bit nervous and we took her inside
She's on antibiotics and eye drops until Tuesday next week and then we have a specialist eye appointment who can hopefully tell us what's wrong with her eye. Luckily all the meds are keeping her stable for the meantime

Lairian

Hi there! Sorry for the late reply - it's been busy! Currently in the midst of some pretty awful morning sickness!

Umami finally came off her antibiotic eye ointment after 4 weeks of being on them. She was doing well that whole time, but now it's been 1.5 weeks since she finished that. Unfortunately her eye (same eye as always) is back to being swollen, red and irritated for her.

We're at our wits end. We don't know what to do about it. 4 different medicines and nothing helps. Feel so awful for her, and we can't keep forking out for such expensive medical bills with no resolution Her breeder finally got back to us a month ago and offered to pay 50% of her medical bills, but when I replied accepting the offer she disappeared again. So clearly wasn't a genuine offer.

Will see how she goes over the weekend but I guess it's back to the vet next week.

Gold Lairian

@ChelseaKaupp sorry to hear you're dealing with morning sickness and Umami's eye is back again.

My boy Toa and my girl Jade both have eye issues caused by allergies. For both I have to use eye ointment frequently. I don't go to the vet everytime cause it's clear what' causing the issue. Whwb it flares up I just get new ointment if the old one was finished. Maybe it's the same with Umami?

Lairian

@ChelseaKaupp sorry to hear you're dealing with morning sickness and Umami's eye is back again.

My boy Toa and my girl Jade both have eye issues caused by allergies. For both I have to use eye ointment frequently. I don't go to the vet everytime cause it's clear what' causing the issue. Whwb it flares up I just get new ointment if the old one was finished. Maybe it's the same with Umami?

Thank you for the reply! With your cat's allergies, does it affect just one eye or both?
I had thought allergies could be causing it, but I had figured it would affect both eyes and Umami only struggles with one eye. Hopefully I'm wrong!
She does great on the ointment, and then we come off it and problem comes back. Flushing with saline solution gives a temporary relief too.

Gold Lairian

@ChelseaKaupp with both the allergies only show in one eye. Always the same eye. The vet says they see that often.
When the ointments works for Unami but her eye will get bad after a while again, I would sure think off an allergy.
Can be difficult to find out what is causing the flare up. My boy has hay fever and he plays in the garden now and then so that's clear. But I didn't figure out all his allergies yet, and neither for my girl. I'm glad the ointment always work.
For 2 years I gave my boy Toa the ointment every 2 days to make sure there wouldn't be flare ups.

Oh and do you have plants in your home? Did you all google them on cat safety? Cause after 2 years I did find out I had a plant at home that could cause allergies for cats...throwed the plant out and yep....my boys eye was way better!

Lairian

@ChelseaKaupp with both the allergies only show in one eye. Always the same eye. The vet says they see that often.
When the ointments works for Unami but her eye will get bad after a while again, I would sure think off an allergy.
Can be difficult to find out what is causing the flare up. My boy has hay fever and he plays in the garden now and then so that's clear. But I didn't figure out all his allergies yet, and neither for my girl. I'm glad the ointment always work.
For 2 years I gave my boy Toa the ointment every 2 days to make sure there wouldn't be flare ups.

Oh and do you have plants in your home? Did you all google them on cat safety? Cause after 2 years I did find out I had a plant at home that could cause allergies for cats...throwed the plant out and yep....my boys eye was way better!

Thank you! This is like a huge weight off my shoulders - I feel so relieved. Who knows if this is the answer, but it at least sounds like it. I had ruled them out long ago because I thought it would affect both her eyes. Obviously allergies aren't ideal, but my mind was going into overdrive about some more serious issue.

Ok, this weekend we're going to have a big spring(autumn) clean and we'll go through potential things that may potentially cause an allergy and see if we can figure this out!

I'll email the vet, rather than booking an appointment, and see what she thinks we should do also. May I ask what ointment works for your two?